ROCHDALE under 16s travelled to Chester and came away with a fine win.

ROCHDALE under 16s travelled to Chester and came away with a fine win.

Chester opened well but strong defence frustrated the home side, although a string of harsh penalties kept Dale penned in their own half.

Good work in the line-out by Hodgkinson and Rhodes led to more possession for Dale, and good runs by fullback Kelly and centres Wint and Ryan were only stopped on the Chester 22 by lack of support.

Another series of penalties were awarded to the home side five minutes before half-time, and after a good run by the fullback an overlap appeared on the right allowing Chester to score. But they conceded a penalty in front of the posts early in the second half and Johnson sensibly elected to take the points.

Dale had the slope in their favour after the break, and stand-off Johnson used what little wind there was to kick deep and give his fast backs the chance to pressurise the Chester fullback.

After a knock on, Dale won the scrum and the ball reached loose forward Worrall. He battered his way through to the line, supported by the pack. The ball finally ended in centre Ryan's hands and he crashed over to make it 8-5 to Dale. Johnson just missed the long range conversion.

Dale then showed their true colours by winning line-outs and scrums against a tiring Chester defence. Dale always looked likely to score again, and it was Worrall who again broke through from 10 metres out to score next to the posts and leave Johnson with a simple conversion.